Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, December 10, 2010

Gallery (click any photo to view the gallery)

Each year, Jessie Clark students add to the ceiling mural and other artwork filling Dolly Dressman's classroom.

Walking into the art room at Jessie Clark Middle School, students are engulfed by their own creations. From stained glass bottles on a shelf and stars painted on the window shades to the brightly colored ceiling mural, the space teems with the kids’ artwork.

“Everywhere is a canvas in my room,” said Dolly Dressman, who has urged her students to expand the mural in particular.

The project began as routine maintenance since Dressman sands and refinishes the work tables every couple of years. First came the inspiration to add portraits of animals to hide imperfections in the laminated wood, including a lion, zebra, elephant and giraffe. Next she noticed two stained ceiling tiles, on which students painted butterflies. That led to the rain forest canopy and ultimately the theme “Circle of Life.”

Students recently unveiled the ceiling mural for parents and other guests, complete with the special effects of black lighting on the fluorescent acrylic paint and music from “The Lion King” playing in the background.

“Ms. Dressman encourages us to be as artistic as we can,” said seventh-grader Renner Clements.

One new element he worked on is the “pegacorn,” a combination Pegasus and unicorn, which spreads its expansive wings in the far corner of the room. When students took turns presenting their narrative pieces, Renner described the palette of cool colors, the textured wings and the overall symmetry and balance of the pegacorn.

“The literature part helps us explain what’s going on,” said eighth-grader Taylor Stinnett.

Many of the narratives were first-person stories, written as if the students were the animals depicted. For instance, one boy was a lion living on the savannah; another, a spider monkey in the rain forest. The short essays provided not only factual details about the animals and their habitats but also entertaining fictional accounts fed by the kids’ imaginations.

The “Circle of Life” motif carries throughout the room, including a seascape painted on a series of cabinet doors where students have effectively designed everything from jellyfish and sea turtles to killer whales and sharks.

Overhead, sections of the ceiling now also contain elements from space – the sun, planets and stars. And scattered around the room are nods to locale, including the cardinal as Kentucky’s state bird, a horse for the Bluegrass Region and an eagle, which is Jessie Clark’s school mascot.

Taylor described the class as a free-form experience, saying, “You’re able to interact with the art and be yourself.”

Renner agreed that as students contribute to the collection, there’s a growing sense of pride and accomplishment.

“It’s not so much the quality of the art as the feeling,” he said.